• Performing Arts Databases Home

Bring in 'Da Noise, Bring in 'Da Funk on Broadway / Baakari Wilder [theatrical performance]

Title

Bring in 'Da Noise, Bring in 'Da Funk on Broadway [Theatrical Performance]

Performers

Wilder, Baakari

Davis, Marshall, Jr.

Edwards, Omar

Samuels, Jason

Hill, Dule

Patterson, George

Published/Created

1996-04-25

Genre

Theatrical Performance

Venue

Ambassador Theater

Abstract

Cast: Savion Glover, Baakari Wilder, Jimmy Tate, Vincent Bingham, Jeffrey Wright, Ann Duquesnay, Jared Crawford, Raymond King, Dule Hill.
[January 10-21, 1997 Glover took a short vacation from Noise/Funk; who hadn't missed a single performance of the physically-demanding tap revue since its opening on Broadway; Baakari Wilder replaced Glover]

Celebrating two-year run on Broadway on April 25, 1998, the cast members included Baakari Wilder as Da Beat; Lynette Dupre as da Singer; Curtis McClarin as da Voice; and Marshall L. Davis, Omar A. Edwards, Jason Samuels [other dancers mentioned as performing in Noise/Funk have included Dormeshia Sumbry Edwards, George Patterson, Joseph Monroe Webb, Larry Wright)

A rap/tap discourse on the staying Power of the Beat (Musical revue), in Two acts, 6 scenes. choreographer, Savion Glover. Based on an idea by Savion Glover and George C. Wolfe. Book by Reg E. Gaines. Music by Daryl Waters, Zane Mark and Ann Duquesnay. Conceived and directed by George C. Wolfe. Scene design by Ricardo Hernandez. Costume design by Paul Tazewell. Opened April 25, 1996 at the Ambassador Theatre and closed 10 January 1999 after 1123 performances.

Wrote Constance Valis Hill in the Village Voice: "There's a scene with "Grin and Flash" two tuxedoed tap dancers who, shuffle-and-winging through the Hollywood thirties, are mere entertainers, sellouts who do not tap only from the waist down and who therefore lack rhythm, who have lost "Da Beat." The tuxes and patent-leathers, the precocious sophistication and double-imaged precision movement: who could they be but the Nicholas Brothers?" Savion Glover choreographed that scene, and heard that the Nicholases were insulted and deeply hurt over having to be the laughing stock and center of George C. Wolfe's ridicule. Glover also misunderstood that the Nicholas Brothers, who as teenagers performed for whites-only audiences at the Cotton Club in Harlem, also played a few blocks away at the Lafayette Theatre to mostly-black crowds (with the same costumes and routines), to raucous applause. Fayard Nicholas said, "we were gentlemen, and talked well to all people from Harlem to Broadway. And in that way, we showed them that black people had class." For the Nicholases, the word entertainment was never a dirty word. And Glover, in his realization and maturation and independence from the ironic-cutting wit of Wolfe, tried to make up for this unknowing faux pas when he headlined "A Tribute to the Nicholas Brothers" at Carnegie Hall on April 6, 1998. joining Gregory Hines, Lena Horne, Jimmy Slyde, Christian McBride, and Maya Angelous, and Bill Cosby in a belated acknowledgment of the Brothers, who jazz tap dancing represented the most sophisticated refinement of jazz as a percussive dance form."

Not attempting to rewrite history but rather to present an inclusive history that acknowledges and celebrates the contributions of African Americans to tap dance.
Ambassador Theatre 4/25/1996-January 10, 1999
1996 Tony Awards
Savion Glover Tony Award Nomination for Best Actor Musical
Ann Duquesnay Tony Award Best Actress Featured Role Musical
Reg E. Gaines Tony Nomination Best Book (Musical)
Savion Glover Tony Award Best Choreography
Paul Tazewell Tony Nomination Costume Design
George C. Wolfe Tony Award Best Direction Musical
Jules Fisher and Peggy Eisenhauer Tony Award Lighting Design
"Bring in Da' Noise" Tony Nomination Best Musical
"Bring in Da' Noise" Tony Nomination Best Original Musical Score

(Constance Valis Hill "Bring In the Praise," Village Voice April 7, 1998.)

Source

Bordman, Gerald: American Musical Theatre: A Chronicle. New York: Oxford University Press (1992).

Last Updated: 12-16-2015